Page 54 of Wild Sentinel

"I think you’ll find this interesting. I looked at Nick’s cell history. Something odd happened about six weeks ago. His phone was at a bar on Sunset until about 1:00 AM. Eclipse. He left the club and went back to his house in the hills, according to the cell records. Then he called Vivian's phone at 2:33 AM. Why would he need to call his agent at that time of the morning?"

I shrugged and played devil’s advocate. "Maybe he met somebody at the club and wanted to talk business. A studio exec, director, producer, who knows?"

"All well and good," she said. "But after he called, Vivian's phone goes off the grid."

"Battery died," I said, offering a potential theory.

"A little less than an hour later, Nick left his house. 15 or 20 minutes after that, Vivian's phone pops up on the grid at Nick's house and calls a burner in Culver City, then goes off the grid again."

It was looking suspicious.

Isabella continued, "That burner phone in Culver City goes off the grid. It never comes back on the grid. That person dumped the phone."

I started putting all the pieces together. "Nick didn't leave the club alone. Why would he?” It didn't take an advanced degree to sort it out. "He brought a girl back to his house, probably fed her a bunch of drugs, and something happened. Something problematic. Something so distressing, he had to call his agent. Then his agent called a fixer." I looked at Joel, and he shrugged innocently.

"Sounds reasonable to me," Isabella said.

Then it clicked. "There's a missing girl.” I dug in my pocket and pulled out the flyer the guy had given me on Melrose. “Molly Dean. Look into her and see what you can find.”

"I'm on it," she said before ending the call.

I slipped the phone back into my pocket and asked Joel, "How far would Vivian go for a client?”

"The ends of the earth. Whatever it took.”

"Would she go as far as to cover up a murder?"

Joel hesitated. "Depends on the client."

"How about a client looking at a $200-million deal?"

He frowned, not wanting to think that way about Vivian.

"Who would she call if she needed to dispose of a body in a hurry?”

Joel shrugged. "I don't know.”

I gave him a doubtful look. "Please,” I scoffed. “She probably had a fixer on speed dial. I'm sure half the people in this town do.”

31

Joel chose his words carefully. "I know there are people in this town who can make certain situations go away. I can ask around and find out who those people are. But you have to understand, extreme discretion is required. If I give you names, and you cause problems, it's going to come back on me. Remember what I said about pissing off people in this town.”

"I got that message loud and clear from more than one person,” I said. “But I’m going to ask you again… do you want me to find out who murdered your friend or not?”

"I'll make some phone calls.”

"You don't already know?"

Joel smiled. "I don't get in trouble. I don’t need a fixer."

I laughed.

There was enough time to get back to the Sunset Strip from Malibu. I wanted to hit the Eclipse and talk to the bartenders and wait staff. Somebody had to remember seeing the girl with Nick. I didn’t know if anybody would talk, but it was worth a shot. Everyone was so paranoid about ruining their career in this town. They didn't want to burn any bridges. But sometimes you have to.

The flyer said she had last been seen at the Horizon Lounge, but the two bars were so close, it wouldn’t have been unthinkable to hop from one to the other.

I called a rideshare, and we cruised back to Hollywood.